PopSugar Must Have Box - November 2016

November's PopSugar Must Have Box arrived in the mail a few weeks ago and I was so excited about the contents of this box! Honestly, I have to say this is one of my favorite boxes to date! I loved every single item inside!

These are always so much fun to open! You never know what's going to be inside!

The theme of November's box included "togetherness, elegant, essentials, inviting, celebration"...all perfect for a get together or party with family and friends!

The November box included 6 items. Here's a sneak peak of the items inside....

From the start, I couldn't have been more excited to see that little green bag from Kendra Scott!

Without further adieu, here's the contents of the November PopSugar Must Have Box! 

Meri Meri Star Party Picks

How cute are these?! They would make an adorable and festive addition to cupcakes, appetizers and other fun party foods!
These picks retail at $8.00

Stowaway Cosmetics Dawn to Dusk Palette 

How beautiful are these shades? This palette is perfect for fall and winter with gorgeous shades all around! The idea for this palette is a morning to evening transition - apply the lighter colors for the day time, then apply the darker shades for evening! What a fun concept!
This palette retails at $25.00

Kendra Scott Elaina Rose Gold Bracelet in White Pearl

As mentioned before, I was so excited to open this little turquoise bag from Kendra Scott and it did not disappoint! Included inside was a beautiful rose gold bracelet with a white pearl stone. I absolutely love it and this became my favorite item in the November box!
This bracelet retails at $50.00

Ooogie's Gourmet Toffee Butter Popcorn

One word: delicious. I'm a fan of all things toffee/caramel and this popcorn did not disappoint! The salty/sweet taste of this popcorn is perfect for any occasion!
This popcorn retails at $2.99

Pehr Chambray Table Runner

I was so excited to see a table runner included in this box! This table runner is lightweight and the colors are beautiful! It's long, so it fits just right on our main dining table. The colors are perfect to add to any fall/winter decor, too!
This table runner retails at $44.00

AJ Goods Nest Wire Bowl

I love the ideas that were given for use of this bowl - as a "catch all", fruit bowl, or even part of your holiday/Christmas décor with festive ornaments inside...this bowl is so versatile and the color matches just about any home décor!
This wire bowl retails for: $35.00

That's it for November's box! Again, this box was perfect for me and I am loving each item inside!

Are you interested in trying out next month's PopSugar Must Have box? Click here, then use use code SHOP5 for $5 off your first  Must Have Box!

Disclaimer: I was provided a PopSugar Must Have Box in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Thanksgiving Weekend and Black Friday!

This holiday season, I'm trying a little something different!

Once a week for the remainder of 2016, I'm going to post vlogs to YouTube (and here) of our holiday weekend adventures! It's sort of my little take on "Vlogidays"/"Vlogmas"....weekends only! I'm also looking forward to sharing Brayden's first holidays with you!

It all began this past week with Thanksgiving and will continue throughout the upcoming weekends....you'll see a few races, out of town travels, Christmas events, parties, etc...

This past weekend was filled with a lot of fun times spent with family and friends - Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and a Gilmore Girls reunion party!

Check out our fun-filled weekend below! :)

I hope you and your family had a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

How did you spend your holiday?

Run Now Gobble Later 4 Miler

Happy Monday and Happy Birthday to my husband!! How was everyone's Thanksgiving? We had a fantastic weekend over here and I'm sad to say it's over! I hope you all had a great weekend as well! 

On Thursday morning (Thanksgiving Day), I ran the virtual "Run Now Gobble Later 5K"...except we turned it into a 4 miler! This race was a part of Gone For A Run's Virtual Race Series. Although I am a Gone For A Run Ambassador, I did purchase entry into this race on my own.

Sadly, my area no longer hosts a community wide turkey trot, so my running buddy Heather and I had to come up with our own Thanksgiving morning game plan! After debating what to do, we finally decided to register for a virtual race. It just so happened that Gone For A Run was hosting one, so we decided to go for it! Registration for the race was easy and shipping was super fast! With our registration fee, we each received a race bib, knee high socks, and a medal.

Heather and I met up at my house at 7 a.m. to begin our run. Brayden also had to tag along since my husband was working days. I was a little worried about him lasting the 4 mile distance, but he did AWESOME!

It was a little chilly that morning, so I bundled Brayden up with several blankets and he didn't move at all during the run! At one point, I forgot he was even in the stroller!

We had a great run as always and I definitely enjoyed the company! One of our favorite parts of this specific virtual race was the adorable turkey socks!! I washed mine and kept them on the rest of the day!
 

My little trooper did such an amazing job - he stayed awake the entire run and didn't make a peep!

We did it! :) These medals were really colorful and well made!

After the run, I showered then got ready for brunch with my parents.

They came over and enjoyed these delicious pumpkin pie cinnamon rolls with us! :)

In all, it was a great run and I would definitely participate in another Gone For A Run Virtual Race in the future!

Did you participate in a Turkey Trot race?

12 Mile Run...& All Kind of Craziness!

Happy day before Thanksgiving! Today, I have half a day of work which will be followed by a bit of baking for our Thanksgiving festivities. I also can't wait for my crew's annual Black Friday shopping shindig! We are going to have so much fun!! :)

This past Saturday, I ran a 12 mile training run with my running buddy, Heather. This training run was our last "really" long run before our December half marathon and was a huge confidence booster for both of us.

Starting out that morning, the weather was incredibly chilly and I had no clue how to dress. I mean, I felt like I regressed back to my newbie running stages where I either over or under dressed all the time. You'd think I would have learned by now! After putting on two different pair of tights (a maternity pair accidentally made it into my tights drawer...whoops), I was ready to hit the road! I might have been late, too...I was incredibly confused by the tights I had on at first and couldn't figure out why they were so big on me. Guess that's what happens at 5:30 a.m.!

After meeting up with Heather and our running group, we began our run. Somehow, it was colder at our meeting spot that it was at my house, which means we spent the first part of our run trying to warm up. That hasn't happened in forever and I kinda liked it! 

Throughout our run, we encountered several "interesting" things...

• A car passed by and saturated us with a very odd odor. Apparently that odor was weed and it was only 8 a.m. Stay classy, Lake Charles.
• During one of our neighborhood loops, we looked over and saw a guy who was urinating behind a restaurant near a dumpster. Yes, he was outside and fully exposed. I could go without seeing that ever again.
• If you've ever had a baby, you will know what I mean by this....well, let's just say that my bladder isn't what it used to be (without being incredibly TMI). Thankfully, I spotted a much-needed port-a-potty somewhere near mile 8 or 9 along our route. As we began running again, we realized that there was NO construction around and pretty much NO reason for said random port-a-potty to be located in that spot. So strange. Hopefully I wasn't being secretly filmed and I won't end up on some random crazy TV show down the road.....!

Needless to say, we had several good laughs during our long run that morning. Out of all of my runs lately, this was by far the best. My knees felt great, my lungs were feeling better and I was finally able to breathe again, and I had good company along the way!

This run ended on a high note and definitely made me grateful for the random bad ones because I was able to appreciate it so much more!

I love getting a ton of steps in before 9 a.m.!

After the run, I stopped by Starbucks for a Christmas/Holiday beverage.

I also had to get this adorable snowman cookie to eat as a snack later on that day. Both the drink and the cookie were delicious! :)

What's the craziest thing you've ever seen while out for a run?

Brayden's 6 Month Pictures

Last month, I took Brayden for his 6 month pictures. We used the same photographer who did his newborns, because I wanted to have a couple of photos to compare with how much he's grown in such a short amount of time.

This session was completely different from his newborns. Where he slept throughout most of his newborn photos, he was awake the entire time for his six moth session. His newborn session also took about 3 hours and this session lasted about 45 minutes, if even that.

He also wasn't quite as cooperative for these photos (you'll see what I mean later), but there's still a lot of them that I love!

For this session, I brought three outfits for three separate backdrops. The last outfit was a prop the photographer had on hand.

First up was the baseball setup - complete with the baseball prop from his newborn photo session. We also added the glove my dad bought him on his date of birth. Oh yes, and my dad also purchased the baseball outfit he's wearing....we aren't a baseball family or anything! :)

From newborn....

To six months!

Where did my bitty baby go??

You don't really realize just how much things have changed until you look back on photos like these!

Our second setup was with a fall backdrop. 

By that point, my little stinker had enough.

Yep, there's that pouty lip...

However, we managed to distract him and get through a few more photos before calling it a day!

Here's another newborn to 6 month transitional picture...

From newborn....

...to six months!

My oh my he's grown so fast.

Our last setup was with a prop the photographer had on hand. I absolutely love these!

It was really interesting to see the difference between his newborn session and his six month session. Babies change, develop, and grow so fast over such a short amount of time, and I love having pictures like these to look back on as my little guy continues to grow!

Christmas, Football, and the Weekend

Last week was a bit crazy around my house. We had something to do outside of our home almost every night of the week last week and I had to plan a big church function that I oversee which took place last night. Needless to say, I was exhausted every evening and went to bed as early as possible (hence the sparseness of my blog posts last week). This weekend however, we had a blast!!

On Friday afternoon after work, I had a few tasks to complete. Brayden's 6 month pictures were ready, so I picked those up on my way home. I love them, especially considering how cranky he was that morning!

I also put together several Operation Christmas Child boxes to ready them for delivery. The girls group I'm in charge of at church sponsored these boxes with the kids bringing items to stuff them with. We have been teaching them about foreign missions and how it's possible to impact a life right here from home. I love this organization and the cause! We were planning on five boxes, but the girls brought enough items to stuff seven boxes! I'd say that's a win win!

My last task of the day was to help Jason get the Christmas items out of the attic. I know it looks like a lot of stuff, but it's stuff I've accumulated over 10 years and there's a few boxes in the mix that we no longer use. I definitely need to take the time to throw away, donate, and downsize. Maybe one day!

When Saturday morning rolled around, so did a COLD front! It was in the 40's for our run and I was at a loss on how to dress. It's been so long since I've had to deal with really cold weather! Yes, that's REALLY cold to me! 

My running buddy Heather and I ran our last really long training run before our next half marathon! We ran 12 miles and it was an amazing run...I'll tell you all about it later this week! :)

After my run, I stopped at Starbucks for my usual Saturday morning coffee. I'm so hooked on their new Chestnut Praline Latte. It's a Christmas beverage and oh so delicious! I might have also picked up a snack for later in the day. :) Yay for red cups, too!

Brayden has a few Thanksgiving outfits so he had to start wearing them early! :) This is one of my favorites. Well, I lie...I love them all! These pants are especially adorable - they have a little turkey on the butt and they have turkey faces on the feet!

I spent a good portion of Saturday afternoon and night setting up our Christmas stuff. This Mickey village takes a while to setup, so that was my first big task and I tackled it during Brayden's nap time. So far, the entire inside of the house is complete minus the tree...I'll get to that this week!

My dad and mom are season ticket holders for our local university's football games. Well, they were unable to attend the game on Saturday night, so they gave their tickets to us! Bonus: we all (my dad, mom, Jason, myself) graduated from this school! Fun times!

After dinner, we bundled up and headed to the stadium. It was SO COLD, y'all. Thankfully, I had a blanket, too.

Brayden LOVED the game. Jason and I took bets on how long he would last and we were both WRONG! He loved all of the movement on the field during the game, ate some puff snacks, then intently watched both bands during halftime (a total of 5 songs). Our band even played the theme from the Incredibles! How fitting for our little Disney guy at his first football game! :)

He started getting restless after halftime, so we decided to call it a night. I couldn't believe he lasted 2 quarters plus halftime - it was definitely past his bedtime too!

Remember that cold weather snap I mentioned? Yeah well, it was enough for us to turn on the heater AND I got to wear my hoodie footie pajamas for the first time! My dad bought this pair for me last Christmas and I love them!! :)

For our "Thanksgiving Sunday" morning, Brayden wore his fall/Thanksgiving outfit.

On Sunday night, we had a function at church for our girls program and I spent most of my afternoon working on last minute things for the program. We also dropped the Operation Christmas Child boxes off at a local church.

Whew. I definitely slept well last night!

Here's to another fun week! Hope you all have a great week! Happy Thanksgiving prep! 

Cajun Cup 10K 2016

On Saturday morning, I ran my 2nd post baby race....the Cajun Cup 10K in Lafayette, LA. My running buddy Heather was initially supposed to run this one with me, but was unable to due to a nasty sickness that hit her the day before.

Instead, my friend Kim and I loaded up the car with Brayden and all the essentials at 5:30 a.m. and set off for Lafayette (it's about an hour plus a little drive). Thankfully, we met ZERO traffic and were able to make it to the race start about an hour before the race began.

After finding a parking spot (that was NO easy feat...I mean, how does one even use a parking meter??), I headed over to packet pickup. This is a large race, but the directors have got it going on!! There's PLENTY of port-a-potties, a really nice race start/finish area, vendors to see, the whole 9 yards!

We ended up parking in that parking garage. It was open and others were doing it so we did too! Also, the parking meters only took quarters. I mean...I don't ever carry change on me anymore. Lordy.

Kim and Brayden walked over to the start line to see me off! 

It was a bit cool outside which was perfect for the race! I loved the weather! I was also still coughing like the week before but not quite as bad...thankfully it had calmed down a little bit and I was able to breathe a little easier.

I decided to line up somewhere mid-way through the pack. This race was chip timed so I knew the timer wouldn't start until I crossed the start line. I also decided not to place a goal on my back for this race. I wanted to just run it and see what happened. Last week's race kinda traumatized me....

After the race began, I had to weave a little but once I found my groove, it was on! I kept trying to debate my pace. Last week, I started out waaaaay too fast (on top of being sick and not being able to breathe) and fizzled out in the end. I didn't want to do that but  I kept reminding myself that I was breathing a bit easier than the week before.

I even managed to hit a mile that was under the 9 minute mark (I think it was 8:58 or somewhere around there). Once I saw that, I knew I could at least beat my time from the week before, so that's what I focused on.

This course ran by the local University and all throughout the streets of Lafayette. It really is a pretty course and it doesn't go out and back so you never see the same thing twice.

Another huge perk this race has going on for itself is the water stops. Y'all, there were FOUR water stops on the course along with gatorade! Now that is what I'm talking about!! 

Somewhere around mile 5, I spotted the back of a runDisney shirt. (That happens almost every race I run!) As I passed the girl, I glanced to see which race she ran. It happened to be Dopey of 2016 and I knew if I saw her at the finish line, I wanted to stop and congratulate her on her awesome accomplishment. Little distractions like that really help me get through a race and I love it!

Also, my music was turned up loud in both ears which also helped me stay focused. Last time I ran this race, I remembered hearing the finish area, then running way far away from it before finally looping back to it. This time, I was prepared....my music was so loud, I couldn't hear anything else!

As I neared the finish line, I knew I hadn't given this race my all because I had WAY too much left in the tank. Ah well...I'll get this right one of these days! 

Finish time 56:12, about a minute faster than last week's race! Also, after checking time results,  I came in the top 1/3 of runners in this race. Even though I was slightly disappointed in my overall performance because I feel as if I could have done better, I'll take it anyway!

Another fun addition to this race this year were medals! The shirt and artwork designs are always done by a local artist, so that's what went on the medals as well! I loved it!

This was my third time running this race and I feel as if they just keep getting better and better! 

As mentioned before, there were several vendors out and about to enjoy after the race. The first was Smoothie King!

This was the perfect post-race treat! Loved it!

Also, the Great Harvest Bread Company was out there giving away samples of their delicious bread. One of these just opened in my hometown and I can't wait to try them out! This bread was so yummy!

Remember the Dopey Challenge girl I mentioned earlier? Well, she crossed the finish line not long after I did, so I stopped to talk to her. She was so nice and we chatted about Disney and runDisney for a little while! I loved it!

After the race, Kim and I were going to eat breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe, but the line was insane. Instead, we went to Super Target and had our first red cups of the season! 

The Chestnut Praline Latte is SO good!

We might have also enjoyed lunch at McAlisters. They seriously need to return to Lake Charles. For real.

I can't thank my friend Kim enough for coming along with us and watching Brayden while I ran this race! I certainly couldn't have done it without her!

Next race: The Cajun Country Half Marathon in December!! :) Can't wait!